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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Are Target and Valve Censoring Games? Yes!

(Update 12/17: Gabe caught wind of Hatred being removed and then put it back up on Greenlight)A
lot of people seem to be confused by the definition of censorship. Let's just
clear this controversy up a bit with Google...according to Wikipedia, Censorshipis
the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may
be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or
inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other
groups or institutions. Governments, private organizations and individuals
may engage in censorship. Censorship may be direct or it may be indirect,
in which case it is called soft censorship.

In the case of Target Australia and
more recently, Steam is this the case? Are these private organizations engaging
in suppression of speech? Well according to the definition, yes! By
choosing to not carry products due to the controversy surrounding them, Target
and Valve are indirectly censoring the products from their stores.

It's not just Uncle Sam
that can take your toys away, anyone can be a censor! Your school, your job,
your parents, your local Target or even your online digital game retailer. So
when people tell you that Target isn't censoring GTAV by not carrying the game,
they are wrong. Same goes for Steam and Hatred. These institutions are actively
choosing what media is appropriate and inappropriate for their audiences, and
actively removing products they deem unworthy.

Some silly people think that, "since the
games will be available at other retailers that it isn't censorship", but
the media IS still suppressed within the institutions of Target and Steam. They
also seem to think that only governments can create censorship, but those of us
with overprotective parents know this isn't the case.

Unknowingly following the
footsteps of dictators before her, my Mother literally burned my books,
CDs and games that she assumed were products of satanic materialism. Just
because those products were available elsewhere to me, they were still censored
by the institution of my mother. I know she meant well by trying to shield me
from corruption, but sometimes this type of overbearing protection can
backfire. The more she pushed, the more I was interested in the things she was
shielding me from.

Just like my Mom, I don't believe that Target and
Steam are wrong for removing these controversial products from their
audiences. They have every right to censor products they don't want to
associate with, and more power to them! I just don't understand why they would
do this. First off Steam comes off as hypocritical for carrying games that
basically have the same premise as Hatred and Target misses out on potential
sales for a game they've been carrying many previous versions of (not
counting spin offs).

Ironically, removing these games is only going to help them succeed by raising awareness, adding to the hype and creating a underdog narrative. It's the "Chick-Fil-a Effect". When the
company spoke out publicly against same sex marriage, college campuses and
liberals all around America protested and called for boycotts. But
Chick-Fil-a's main audience is conservative fast food goers, exactly the
opposite of their opposition. It was seen as an attack by the left on something
the right loved. The company went on to have record breaking sales at
their restaurants due to the controversy. I'm wondering if Valve and
Target are just setting these games up for similar success story that they'll be missing
out on.

What
do you think? Am I wrong? Is this just a case of disassociation? One way
or another I'd love to hear it below or: